@MayorofLondon Pedestrianise Oxford Street

On 18 December 2009, I was walking along a crowded Oxford Street, keen to get home to my family. It was the busiest shopping day before Christmas and thousands of people were enjoying the festive atmosphere. My foot was still on the pavement as it hit me -- a 16 ton bendy bus, that is.

The bus was travelling at a minimum of 20mph. The impact sent me into a near death coma and burst both of my lungs. My sons waited over a month as I clung to life. It took me two years to recover.

I now realise how lucky I was that day: I survived. Many do not.

Accident rates on Oxford Street are 35 times the average of any other London street, with 300 buses travelling down the short stretch of road every hour. Since 2006, according to TfL data, over 192 pedestrians have been hit by TfL buses on Oxford Street, of which 56 have been killed or seriously-injured.

So I'm calling on the Mayor to pedestrianise Oxford Street. It is about time that London make Europe's busiest shopping street its safest too.

I just signed the following petition addressed to: Mayor Boris Johnson, Chairman, Transport for London.

----------------Pedestrianise Oxford Street

Accident rates on Oxford Street are 35 times the average of all other London streets. It has been calculated that there is a collision involving a bus in the area every 3.4 days. Over 100,000 pedestrians per day pass along the busiest point on Oxford Street. Since 2000, over a thousand casualties have resulted from bus-pedestrian accidents on Oxford Street and over 200 pedestrians have been killed or seriously-injured in such accidents. Given the high number of accidents involving pedestrians on "Europe's busiest shopping street," Mayor Boris Johnson and his Transport for London should pedestrianise London's most important commercial and tourist district. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2g0BIUyTvQ----------------